Description

The demo version of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos features a five-mission Orc campaign called Exodus of the Horde of which only the first two tutorial missions are included in the retail version of the game. The campaign tells the story of Thrall's adventures as he leads the Orcish Horde away from Lordaeron across the Great Sea to the land of Kalimdor. The part of the campaign that is exclusive to the demo version is rather important for Warcraft lore, as it explains how the jungle trolls became part of Thrall's Horde.

Additionally, the demo version contains one multiplayer map, Deadlock, which allows game sessions with up to four players, and only the Orcs are available for play. Other than that, there are no tech level restrictions, and all Horde heroes, units and structures are accessible in multiplayer games.

The Warcraft III demo was released both as an Internet download and on CD. The CD version, which was also distributed on magazine cover disks, included intro cinematics, while the electronic distribution version omits those because of download file size considerations.

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Add-on release for the full game

The three exclusive missions of the single-player demo campaign were eventually re-released in the form of a custom campaign which was included as a bonus in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The major difference between the two versions is that the add-on version does not have any voice-overs in cutscenes. Additionally, some of the original units have been replaced by their Frozen Throne counterparts - thus, Orcs can build Demolishers instead of Catapults, and Murlocs use their Frozen Throne models.

References

The underground-dwelling Murlocs are very obviously a reference to H. G. Wells' novella, The Time Machine. At the same time, their fish-like appearance and connections to the powers from beneath the sea make them similar to the Deep Ones from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.

Version differences

An exclusive CD release of the Warcraft III demo, called the Warcraft III Game Sampler was distributed during a promotional campaign in late 2002 in AMC Theatres, along with a cinematic trailer that was shown in the opening of such films as James Bond: Die Another Day, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Star Trek: Nemesis and Solaris. Customers who bought a large Coke and a Butterfinger candy bar at the food stand would receive the sampler CD as a bonus. This exclusive version contained three multiplayer maps (as opposed to one in the downloadable version), which were later released as free downloads to be used with the full game.